ats wee “priory aa ea ME wf) WIR "QU Cornell University Library Ithaca, New York White Historical Library THE GIFT OF PRESIDENT WHITE MAINTAINED BY THE UNIVERSITY IN ACCORD- ANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE GIFT eere University Library | BX1723 .A4 1853 E olin Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029393463 RECORDS OF am ROMAN INQUISITION. 19 oV A. «b b* um CASE OF A MINORITE FRIAR, WHO WAS SENTENCED BY S. CHARLES BORROMEO TO BE WALLED UP, AND WHO HAVING ESCAPED WAS BURNED IN EFFIGY. EDITED, WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND FACSIMILES OF SIGNATURES, BY THE REV. RICHARD GIBBINGS, B. D., RECTOR OF RAYMUNTERDONEY, IN THE DIOCESE OF RAPHOE. DUBLIN: Printed at the Waibersity Press. JAMES M°GLASHAN, 50 UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET. LONDON: F. AND J. RIVINGTON. . 1853. 1 Qa Sc8111 DUBLIN : Printey at the Aniversity 38ress, BY M. H. GILL. ADVERTISEMENT. Tue authenticity of the following unique documents cannot possibly be questioned by any one competent to form an opinion upon the subject. They, as well as those which the Editor has already published, and others of which he has taken transcripts, have been found amongst some of the Manuscripts conveyed from Rome to Paris, at the end of the last century, by order of the Emperor Napoleon I. (See De Potter’s Life of Scipio de Ricci, and Duppa’s Rome.) To all the defenders of the papacy this plain alterna- tive is proposed; that they should either frankly ac- knowledge the truth of the evidence thus rendered available against their system, or boldly attempt to con- trovert it. TaixiTY COLLEGE, DuBLIN, February 16, 1853. "E Sütia p fisco Contra frem Thoma de fabianis de Mileto ordinis frum minorü ouentualiü s? francisci. die Sabba- ti 16. decembris. 1564. lecta et lata. pütibus Rome in palatio aptico. R"?* d. Alexandro pallanterio alme vrbis gubfe et V. d. paulo odescalco referendario s™ d. n. pee testibus. ye f C2 SN a. epo. T Sentence, on behalf of the Fiscal, against Friar Tho- mas de Fabianis of Mileto, of the Order of the Con- ventual Minor Friars of S. Francis, was read and passed on Saturday, the 16* day of December, 1564: the wit- nesses present at Rome, in the Apostolic palace, being, the most reverend Signor Alexander Pallanterio,- the Governor of the bounteous city, and the venerable Signor Paul Odescalchi, Referendary of our most holy Lord the Pope. So it is.—CrLAupiUs DE VaLrE, Notary of the holy Inquisition. 8 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. eis Nor, Carlo Borromeo, per la mi- seratione diuina del titolo di S'* Prassede della s** Romana Chiesa Prete Cardinale, et nella causa infrascritta dalli Il et R™ Sig" Card? nell’ uniuersa Republica Christiana contra l'heretica pra- uita Inq? gilli, nostri colleghi, a noi spetialm'? commessa, depu- tato. Il pietoso Sammaritano, che non sprezzo il pouerello, quale descen- dendo da Hierosalem in Hierico, fu da latroni crudelm® ferito, an- zi lo ricouró, riguardandolo con Pocchio della pietà, et lo ricreó con vino et oleo, ne fa sapere et T We, Charles Borromeo,* by di- vine compassion Cardinal Preshy- ter of the holy Roman Church, of the title of S. Praxedes, and in the following cause, which has been to us specially intrusted, deputed by our colleagues the most illustrious and most reverend Lords the Car- dinals, Inquisitors General against heretical pravity in the whole Christian commonwealth. The Good Samaritan, who did not despise the unhappy man who, as he was going down from Je- rusalem to Jericho, was cruelly beaten by thieves, but on the con- trary rescued him, beholding him with the eye of pity, and refreshed * Few readers will require more ample information respecting the career of this energetic Prelate than that which is of easy access in Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints. (Vol. ii. pp. 799-818. Dublin, 1833.) ‘The model of Pastors” (as Butler styles Borromeo) was Archbishop of Milan, as well as a Cardinal; and for his merits and supposed miracles was canonized by Pope Paul V. in 1610. An accurate list of his writings is given by Argelati. (Biblioth. Scriptor. Mediolanens. i. ii. 193-196. Mediol. 1745.) De Porta remarks. and proves, (Hist. Reform. Eccles. Raetic. ii. 24-35. Aug. Vindel. 1794.) that his celebrated Visitations were not restricted to matters connected with piety, or the rigid persecution to death of all who adhered to the doctrines held by the Reformers, but that he actively promoted dissensions and rebellion in other coun- tries. Hence it was that when, about the year 1580, he entered some of the Swiss ter- ritories, even in the diocese of Milan, where the Inquisition had great authority, his many regulations excited the suspicion of the Government, and he was speedily obliged to retire; a fact which is related in these words by Sarpi:—‘ andaua ordinando molte cose, ch' insospettiuano quei Gouerni . . edil Cardinale accommodatosi alla neces- sità si parti.” (Historia dell’ Inquisizione, pp. 64, 65. ed. 1675.— English version by Gentilis, pp. 22, 23. Lond. 1639.) Borromeo’s visitatorial purposes (with a command for the promulgation of the Bull Jn Cana Domini twice in each parish every year,) were imitated by his subaltern Bonomi, Bishop of Vercelli, and papal Legate in Germany, whose rules for ecclesiastical reformation were reprinted, with a view to restore collapsed clerical discipline. by Melchior Hittorpius, 8vo, Colon. 1585. Down to the present day the decisions of Borromeo possess paramount influence in the Church of Rome. Witness the natural respect paid to him in the Decrees of the Synod of Thurles, (pp. 17, 30, 45. Dublin. 1851.) which met in 1850, and which seems to have taken for a pattern the Concilium Romanum Lateranense of the Jubilee-year 1725, (repub. 4to. Aug. Vind. et Gracii, 1726.) though perhaps there is but one explicit reference to it. (p. 50.) RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 9 insegna con quanta pietà debbiamo mouerci uerso quelli, quali deui- ando dal retto sentier della uerità, cascano in diuerse heresie et errori, quando che maggiore assai sono le piaghe della mente che quelle del corpo. Perció con gran nostro ramma- rico, hauendo intesb alli giorni passati linconstantia di te, Fra Tomaso Fabiano de Mileto, dell? Ordine di S? Fran® Conuentuale, il quale scordeuole della tua salu- te, delli documenti paterni, delli riti ecclesiastici, et finalm'* delli articoli della Fede s'* et Catholica ne quali dalla tenerezza de tuoi anni sei stato instrutto, poscia di tanto bene non ricordeuole, fusti ingrato a Dio, proteruo a'i tuoi Superiori, et tutto fosti impiagato da diuerse heresie et errori, come fu referto alli Ill?! et R™ S% Card! Inq* generali, da persone degne di fede, et appare nel processo contra di te formato, — Fu adunq; data opera, che tu Fra Tomaso, quale prima eri stato da Napoli condotto in Roma, fusti dalli nostri officiali diligentem" es- * A town in the kingdom of Naples. him with wine and oil, enables us to understand, and teaches us, seeing that the wounds of the mind are much more grievous than those of the body, with how great commiseration we should be af- fected towards those who, wan- dering from the straight path of truth, fall into various heresies and errors. Having therefore, to our great regret, become acquainted in days past with the instability exhibited by you Friar Thomas Fabiano of Mileto,* a Conventualf of the Or- der of S. Francis, who, unmindful of your own salvation, of paternal precepts, of ecclesiastical rites, and lastly of the articles of the holy and Catholie Faith, in which you had been instructed from your tender years, afterwards, in for- getfulness of such advantages, be- came unthankful to God, insolent to your Superiors, and were to- tally infected with various heresies and errors, according to the repre- sentation made concerning you, by persons worthy of credit, to the most illustrious and most reverend Lords the Cardinals, Inquisitors General, and as it appears in the process drawn up against you, — Measures were then taken that you Friar Thomas, who were pre- viously conducted from Naples to Rome, should be carefully exa- T Helyot, Hist. des Ordres Religieur, Tome vii. p. 151. A Paris, 1718. 10 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. saminato; il che essendo adem- piuto, et la causa tua a noi nella generale Congregatione da detti Il? et R* colleghi distribuita, dapoi la matura et diligente con- sideratione di tutto 'l processo, habbiamo ritrouato che tu con la propria bocca hai confessato te- nere et credere gli errori et heresie infrascritte, empie, scandalose, et abomineuoli, cioé: Che tu hai creduto et tenuto, non essere peccato mangiar carne ne i giorni prohibiti dalla Chiesa; et alle uolte ne hai mangiato, come in Sabbati, uigilie, et quattro tem- pora. Et di piu hai tenuto, che P Ima- gini et Reliquie de S? non si deb- biano riuerire, ne ancora essi santi. Che i Santi non intercedono per noi, perche solo Christo à nostro auuocato; et non debbiamo ricor- rere a Santi nelle nostre orationi, ne pregarli. Che non si troui il Purgatorio per Panime dopó la presente vita; et per questo hai tenuto, che i suffragij che si fanno per li defüti non uagliano. Et le Indulgentie che sono date mined by our officials; which mat- ter having been accomplished, and your cause having been, in a ge- neral Congregation, assigned to us by our said most illustrious and most reverend colleagues, we, after mature and attentive consideration of the entire process, have disco- vered, that you with your own lips have acknowledged that you hold and believe the following impious, scandalous, and detestable errors and heresies; viz.: That you have believed and held, that it is not sinful to eat flesh on days upon which it is for- bidden by the Church; and that you have sometimes so eaten it, as upon Saturdays, Vigils, and the Ember-days. And that you have besides maintained, that the Images and Relies of Saints ought not to be reverenced, and that they are not even holy. That the Saints do not intercede for us, because that Christ is our only advocate; and that we should not have recourse to Saints in our supplications, nor offer prayers to them. That after the present life Pur- gatory for souls does not exist; &nd hence you have entertained the opinion, that suffrages for the dead are of no avail. And that the Indulgences* : * It will be remembered that the Monks of the Order of S. Francis, to which Fa- biano belonged, were for a long time mainly supported by the sale of Indulgences. There RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 11 da Pontefici, quali non imitano nella loro uita San Pietro, non ualere niente. Che i Papi che non sono imita- tori di San Pietro non sono Vica- rij di Christo, ne successori di San Pietro. Che il Papa non ha maggior auttorità c' habbiano li semplici Sacerdoti; cioà, solo di predicare la parola di Dio. Che li Sacerdoti non hanno aut- torità di legare, et di sciogliere dalli peccati; perche questo non si ha nella sacra Scrittura, ma à trouata da huomini. La Giustificatione essere dalla sola fede, et le opere nostre nó es- sere necessarie; dando ogni dig- nità et eccellenza alla fede, et ni- ente all’ opere nostre buone. Che la predestinatione et pre- scientia distrugge il nostro libero &rbitrio; perche quelli che si sal- uano, necessariamente si saluano; et medemam^* quelli que si dan- nano, necessariamente si dannano: et che noi habbiamo il libero ar- bitrio a fare male, ma non a fare bene; perche tutto quello bene, che noi facciamo, il facciamo as- tretti dalla necessita. which are granted by Pontiffs, who do not endeavour to resemble S. Peter in their lives, are not of any value. That the Popes who do not fol- low the example of S. Peter are not Vicars of Christ, nor the suc- cessors of S. Peter. That the Pope has no greater authority than that which those who are merely Priests possess; that is to say, only to preach the word of God. That Priests have not power to bind and loose from sins; because that this is not found in holy Scripture, but is an invention of men. "That Justification proceeds from faith alone, and that our works are not essential; ascribing all dignity and excellence to faith, and no- thing to our good works. That Predestination and fore- knowledge destroy our free will; since they who are saved are ne- cessarily saved; and, in like man- ner, they who are condemned are necessarily condemned: and that we have free will to do evil, but not todo good ; because thatall that we do which is good we perform under the constraint of necessity. is a notice of the ** emolumenta que ex hoc fonte ad eos fluxerunt" in one of Borromeo's Epistles dated at Rome vi. Cal. Januarii, 1564, eleven days after Fabiano was con- demned. (Vid. Baluzii et Mansi Miscellanea, Tom. iii. p. 520. Luce, 1762.) We learn from the preceding Letter that this Cardinal had recently undertaken ‘‘the care and patronage" of the same Order. defection among its members. He felt therefore a peculiar interest in the suppression of 12 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. Che il Sacramento del Battes- mo si deue fare con l'acqua sem- plice, senza cerimonie: et questo medemo ha tenuto del Matrimo- nio, et della Messa; che si debba fare et dire senza cerimonie. Che basta a dire i peccati in ge- nerale, senza dire il numero, le spetie, et circonstantie de peccati, quando la persona si confessa al Sacerdote. Che la Confessione sacramen- tale, quale si fa al Sacerdote, non é necessaria, ne cómandata nella lege da Dio; ma basta confessarsi a Dio. Che l'Ordine sacro non à Sacra- mento della Chiesa: et per questo hai tenuto, che i discipuli di Chris- to, et suoi successori, et Preti, hanno solamente auttorità di pre- dicare l'Euangelio. Che ne l'hostia consacrata non $ il uero corpo di Christo; ma che il pane et il uino consacrati siano solamente segno del corpo et san- gue del nostro Signore Giesu ‘Christo. Hai tenuto et letto molti libri : heretici et dannati. Hai tenuto li soprascritti errori et heresie per cinque o sei anni, et gli hai insegnati ad altri. That the Sacrament of Baptism ought to be administered with water alone, without the addition of ceremonies: and this same opi- nion you have held with regard to Matrimony and the Mass; that the one should be solemnized, and the other said, without ceremo- nies. That it is sufficient to mention sins in general, without describing the number, nature, and circum- stances of them, when one is mak- ing Confession to a Priest. That sacramental Confession, such as is commonly made to a Priest, is not necessary, nor en- joined in the divine law; but that it suffices to confess to God. That Holy Orders are not a Sacrament of the Church: and you have consequently held, that the Disciples of Christ, and their suc- cessors, and Priests, have only au- thority to preach the Gospel. That the sacred Host is not the true body of Christ; but that the consecrated bread and wine are only a sign of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That you have kept possession of, and read, many heretical and condemned books. That you have held the above- named errors and heresies for five or six years, and have taught them to others. RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION, 18 Hai conuersato con molti here- tici. Li quali errori et heresie, insie- me con tutto '] processo, hauendo noi maturam* uiste, lette, et con- siderate, et hauuta relatione da persone religiose et zelanti dell’ honor di Dio, che tu nó sei osti- nato, con il consiglio et parere delli T1™ et R*! Inquisitori nostri colleghi, ci siamo deliberati di ue- nire alla sententia infrascritta. Inuocato il nome di nio Signore Giesu Christo, et della gloriosa Vergine Maria, nella causa et cause uertenti nel S* Officio, tra il mag” M. Pietro Belo, Procuratore Fis- cale di esso S* Officio, da una parte, et Fra Tomaso qui presente, reo, processato, et inquisito in molte heresie, da l'altra, Pronun- tiamo, sententiamo, et dechiaramo, che tu Fra Tomaso, spontaneam'? confesso, et colpeuole ritrouato nelle sopradette heresie, et come piu largamente consta nel proces- so, sei stato heretico, et suiato dalla s'* Madre Chiesa, Catholica, Romana. Et perció sei incorso nelle censure et pene ecclesiasti- che contra simili delinquenti, cosi da i sacri Canoni, et generali con- stitutioni, come dalle particolari constitutioni, a simili delinquenti That you have had intercourse with many heretics. Which errors and heresies, to- gether with the entire process, having fully looked into, read, and reflected on, and having received from individuals, who are devout and zealous for the honour of God, the testimony that you are not ob- stinate;* having likewise obtained the advice and opinion of our col- leagues, the most illustrious and most reverend Inquisitors, we have resolved to pass the ensuing sen- tence. Having invoked the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that of the glorious Virgin Mary, in the cause and causes pending in the Holy Office, between the dignified Pe- ter Belo, Fiscal Procurator of the said Holy Office, on the one side, and on the other you Friar Tho- mas, who are present, have been accused, made the subject of legal proceedings, and impeached with respect to many heresies, We pro- nounce, give sentence, and declare, that you Friar Thomas, who have voluntarily pleaded guilty, and have been discovered culpable re- specting the above-named heresies, and as there is evidence at greater length in the process, actually are a heretic, and a wanderer from our holy Mother the Catholic Roman Church. And that you have there- * If he had been considered contumacious, he must have teen burned alive. 14 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. imposte; et spetialmente nella pri- uatione di tutti gli officij, dignità, gradi, et honori; anzi bisognando noi per questa nostra sententia te priuamo, et te pronuntiamo inha- bile ad essi per l'auuenire. Siamo ben contenti, dapoi che tu mosso da buon consiglio mostri pentirti di hauere tenuto le su- dette abomineuoli heresie, che tu sia assoluto dalle sopradette cen- sure, et ogni ligame di Scommu- nica; et cosi comandamo al pre- sente, che tusij assolutoin presentia nfa, purche con il cor sincero, ef fede non finta, ritorni al gremio della s** Madre Chiesa; et che ab- iuri, maledichi, et detesti, nella chiesa di Santa Maria sopra la Mi- nerua, uestito có il solito habitello, ornato del segno della s? Croce, quale portarai sopra tutte l'altre uesti, generalm* tuttele predette heresie, et tutte quelle che han fore become liable to the censures and ecclesiastical penalties enacted against such transgressors, and imposed, as well by the sacred Ca- nons and general ordinances as by particular decrees, upon those who similarly offend; and that espe- cially you have incurred the de- privation of all offices, dignities, degrees, and honours; nay rather of necessity, by this our sentence, we do deprive you of them, and pronounce you incapacitated from enjoying them for the time to come. Inasmuch as you, influenced by good advice, have evinced your penitence for having held the above- mentioned abominable heresies, we are quite satisfied that you should be absolved from the before-named censures, and from every bond of Excommunication ; and so we give the immediate order, that you re- ceive absolution in our presence, provided that with sincerity of heart, and unfeigned fidelity, you return to the bosom of our holy Mother the Church; and that in the church of S. Mary above the Minerva, clad in the ordinary gar- ment* which is adorned with the sign of the holy Cross, and which * Viz. the Sanbenito, which is a term derived from the French Sac benit. Pegna ob- serves, that ‘ Hoc palliamentum Itali dbitello vocant, Hispanorum autem quidam Sa- marreta, alij Sant benito appellant, quasi saccum benedictum, propterea qudd sit aptus ad agencam poenitentiam, per quam benedicimur et saluamur." (In tert. part. Director. Schol p. 176.) Paramo conceives that the coats of skins, with which our first parents were clothed, afford a precedent for the use of this yellow penitential tunic. (De orig. Offic. S. Inquisit. Lib. i. p. 38. Matriti, 1598.) RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 15 tenuto Fra Berardino [sic] da Sie- na heresiarca, Coruino, Erasmo Sarcerio, Cornelio Agrippa, Gio. Colanpadio, et Hermano Bodio, Martino Bucchiero, parimente maestri di heresie et peruersi dog- mati; et che tu abiuri ogni una et qualunche heresia quale é contra la Fede Catholica et s' Romana Chiesa. Et perche non é conueneuole et giusto essere ardente solo in fare le uendette circa l'offese fatte a i Prencipi del mondo, et poi non curarsi dell? offese fatte alla diuina Maestà; et ancora accio li delitti non rimanghino impuniti con cat- tiuo essempio del prossimo, uogli- amo che tu sij murato in un loco you shall wear over all your other clothes, you abjure, execrate, and abhor all the preceding heresies in general, together with the entire of those which have been main- tained by the heresiarch Friar Bernardinus of Sienna*, by Cor- vinusf, Erasmus Sarceriusf, Cor- nelius Agrippa$, Joannes CEco- lampadius, Hermannus Bodius, and Martin Bucer, likewise the teachers of heresies and perverse doctrines; and that you renounce upon oath each and any heresy whatsoever which is opposed to the Catholic Faith, and to the holy Church of Rome. And since it is not reasonable and just to be zealous only in in- flicting punishments for crimes committed against worldly Princes, and afterwards to be unconcerned respecting transgressions against the Divine Majesty ; and moreover in order that such iniquities may not remain unpunished, and so * This Bernardinus was the famous Ochino or Ocello, who had been General of the Capuchins, and who came to England with Peter Martyr in 1547. (Burnet's Hist. of Ref. Part ii. Book i. p. 41. edit. 8. Strype's Memorials, Vol. ii. p. 198. Lond. 1721.) His revolt to Lutheranism was so vexatious to Pope Paul III. that this Pontiff could scarcely be persuaded to refrain from the extinction of the entire Order of which the eloquent de- serter had been chief. (Spondani 4nnales Eccles. Tom. ii. p. 508. Lut. Paris. 1659.) Ochino's Dialogues caused him to be suspected of defending Polygamy, as well as of a tendency to Socinianism. His writings are enumerated by Sandius, (Biblioth. Anti- Trinit. pp. 4-6. Freistad. 1684.) and Niceron. (Mémoires, Tome xix. pp. 179-183.) T Antonius Corvinus, to some of whose treatises prefaces were prefixed by Luther. (Seckendorf, Comment Lib. iii. pp. 53, 121, 167. Francof. 1692.) T See, for his Life, Melchior Adam ; (Vit. Germ. Theol. pp. 825-27. Haidelb. 1503) and for his works, Verheiden. (Prestant, Theolog. Effig. pp. 48, 49. Hagse-Com. 1602. § The Declamation of Henry Cornelius Agrippa on the uncertainty and vanity of the Sciences was originally printed at Antwerp in 1530, and the first nine editions are un- mutilated. The chapter DE arte Inquistrorum is particularly striking. An English translation of this book was published in 8vo, Lond. 1684; and the author's Apology, in answer to the calumnies of the Divines of Louvain, was put forth sine loco, but appa- rently at Cologne, in 1533. 16 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. circondato da quattro mura, che da noi ti sarà assignato; nel qual luogo, con dolor de core, et abun- dantia di lacrime, piangerai i tuoi peccati et offese fatte alla Maestà di Dio, alla s'? Madre Chiesa, et alla present an evil example to our neighbours, it is our will that you be walled up in a place surrounded by four walls,* which shall be as- signed to you by us; where, with anguish of heart and copious tears, * The fearful punishment of being walled up, or being built in within four walls, (the expense of the erection of which very frequently fell upon the criminals themselves, ) is not to be confounded with simple Immuration, which Pegna and others declare to be the same as perpetual imprisonment. (Schol lxv. in Directorium Inquisitorum, p. 184. Rome, 1578 ) The latter is the lot of ordinary penitent heretics who have not re- lapsed, (Carene Tractat. de Offic. S. Inquis., p. 388. Cremonz, 1655.) and who can afford to pay for their own support,—the phrase is, * vbi habeant vnde viuant,”—for should they not have the means of doing so, they are transferred for life to the galleys. (Carena, p. 72.) If the term ** murato" in Fabiano's sentence were taken alone, or in- cautiously interpreted, it might occasion misapprehension, because that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, (and, it might be affirmed, subsequently,) the word * Murus" commonly signified a prison. For example, a decree of Pope Clement V., in the fifteenth General Council held at Vienne in 1811, which may be found in the papal Canon Law, in the fifth book of the Clementines, (Tit. iii. De Heereticis.) directed that, to secure united action, the two keepers, appointed respectively by the Bishop and the Inquisitor, were to have dissimilar keys for each cell of the Murus. (“In quolibet etiam conclaui eiusdem carceris sive muri erunt duz claues diuersz."] With reference to the entire of this subject, our attention is demanded by the affected artlessness apparent in a statement put forward in the Dublin Review : (June, 1850, p. 509.) —'* It was said that the dungeons were gloomy. No prison is ever very cheerful, but the prisons of the Inquisition were better than any other in Rome or out of Rome. When our informant asked one of the officers if they were on the ground floor, he exclaimed with unfeigned horror, ‘ Impossible, for the ground floor is damp.’ They are spacious, vaulted rooms, dry, and exposed to the sun." Has his Eminence, the author of this memorable article, never yet understood that the Holy Office has prisons of different kinds; some used for the custody, (** carceres ad custodiam,”) and others for the punishment (‘‘carceres ad poenam,") of offenders? Has he never heard of “ separate et occult camarule” having been prescribed for delinquents by the Apostolic see? (Pegne Schol. in Eymer. Director., p. 222.) Is there not such a thing as the '*' enormis rigor carcerum ?" (Vid. Pegnam, 1. c.) ‘ Bolts and chains,” assevers the same enlightened and instructive witness, (p. 469.) “are creatures of the novelist's fancy.” Eymerici would have taught him that the intellect is oftentimes ex- panded in the cases of persons calamitous and long harassed, as well as strongly fettered, in a rigorous and dark prison, [‘Sunt diu . . in carcere detinendi duro et obscuro, bene compediti: nam vexatio frequenter aperit intellectum, et calamitas carceris," (Par. iii Direct. p. 834.)] It appears, then, notwithstanding the confident assertions of this delusive writer, that in the Holy Office there are dark dungeons in which fetters are employed. But all the * rooms" are ‘ spacious," it is said. How is this declaration consistent with the distinct provision made in the Inquisitorial Guide-books, that the cellular receptacles are not to be so confined as to occasion death WITHIN A FEW DAYS ?—'' Tandem animaduertendum est, carcerem perpetuum Heretico penitenti assignatum non debere esse ita arctum vt intra paucos dies reus moriatur." (Cas. Carene Tract. Par. ii. Tit. i $. xxxii. n. 182.) This is the only limit set to the amount of coercion which is licensed ; and if the death of the offender should so very speedily ensue, what may we suppose does Carena add would be the consequence? ‘That catastrophe would render the Inquisitor IRRE- GULAR :—" tunc Inquisitor redderetur irregularis.” Such is this tremendous system of legalized murder, with regard to the commission of which Pegna had antecedently given a similar caution in these words :—“ Illud cauendum est, ne tanta sit carcerum asperitas, vt delinquentes horrore ct malitia loci moriantur; quoniam tune iudices fidei, qui RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 17 religione del Padre SanFran® nella you shall bewail those your sins quale tu hai fatto professione. and offences committed against the Majesty of God, our holy Mother the Church, and the Order of Fa- ther S. Francis, in which you have made profession. ee RA Subire reos, irregulares fierent." (In Eymer. Director. Adnotatt. P. 5 We shall presently find mention made of the placing of an Italian Friar “in the secret prisons ;” and, as a prelude to the relation to be given of his fate, let us leave the more ancient authorities, and learn from Llorente what they were; assuming, what there cannot be any intelligible motive for denying, that no material variation existed in this respect between the arrangements adopted in Italy and Spain. He informs us, ( Hist. de Ü' Ing. d' Espagne, i. 299-300. A Paris, 1817.) that the dreadful tribunal of which we are speaking has three kinds of prisons, public, intermediate, and secret; and that the last sort is reserved for heretics, and for those who are suspected of being 0: :—“ Les prisons secrétes sont celles od l'on enferme l'hérétique et celui qui est soupgonné de l'étre;" and such persons are never permitted to hold the slightest communication with any others, except, under peculiar circumstances, with their “judges :—“ et od l'on ne peut commu- niquer qu’ avec les juges du tribunal.” The particulars of the following case, which have been carefully extracted from the original documents, will serve to disclose the nature, and always possible result, of pro- ceedings habitually carried on in countless instances. In the month of September, 1628, Francesco de Soldati, a native of Bologna and a Minorite Friar, was discovered to have some prohibited writings ("scritti prohibiti") concealed in his sleeve; and after having been tortured, (* tortorato,”) he was con- demned by the Congregation of the Inquisition to imprisonment for five years. Nine months of the prescribed period having elapsed, he was removed to the Convent of S. Francis at Gaeta, where he was WALLED UP. In July, 1632, the Bishop of Molfetta forwards to the Cardinals a representation made by the Consultor Friar Dominic of Na- ples; and they were induced by it to decide that the duration of the punishment should be diminished. Accordingly, on the 12th of the ensuing August, by an injunction signed by Friar Aloysius à Cruce, and stamped with the large monastic seal of the province of Terra di Lavoro, (the impress of which is, * Sigillym magnvm Pro- vincie Terre Laboris,") he was commanded to return to his Superior. He regarded not this mandate, however, for he had Lost HIS REASON; and proclaimed himself to be Sixtus VI., the legitimate Pontiff, above all Councils; the reformer (in allusion to Pope Urban VIII. ;) of Breviaries, Missals, and Chalices ; ‘the adopted son of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His perpetual Vicar in heaven and on earth. An order was given on the 16th of ‘January, 1633, by Andrea Perbenedetti, Bishop of Venosa, that he should be placed in a dungeon ; (Hi in carceribus secretis deponi ;"— observe the distinction before noted, and recognised in fol. 574 of this volume of records, between '' carcere secreta" and t carcere larga ;") and after the expiration of a fortnight the gaoler was astonished at finding that he had power to move about freely, having contrived to set himself at liberty from the iron fetters with which he had been shackled ; (‘‘liberum, et absq; compedibus ferreis quos eius pedibus apposuerat tempore quo illum ibidem carcerauit ;” a deliverance which the maniac ascribed to special divine interposition. The unhappy sufferer was unwilling to sign his name ; and when he refused to be put upon his oath, he was charged with being a Waldensian heretic. Assuredly one cannot feel surprised that in his phrensy he should have said to his examiner, “ You are an executioner, and an execrable wretch :” (“tu sei un carnefice, e ribaldo maledetto.”) On the 3rd of March, 1633, Pope Urban VIII. issued instructions to the Bishop of Venosa before-named, that he should send the criminal safely and in bonds (“via tuta vinetum,") to Rome ; and soon afterwards De Soldati, well guarded, (** ben custodito,”) was conveyed to the prisons of the Holy Office. Perbenedetti’s labours were not unre- warded ; for in the month of May following the pastoral vigilance which he had dis- B 18 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. Et accioche tu piu facilm** con- sequisci la remession de tuoi pec- cati dalla infinita bontà di Dio, Padre delle misericordie, ti ordini- amo, che ultra il debbito Officio diuino, che hai da dire, debbi ogni di dire in ginocchioni, auanti l’I- magine del santiss?? Crucifisso, et della beatiss™* Vergine Mar’, li set- te Salmi penitentiali, có l'orationi et letanie sequente. And to the end that you may the more readily obtain forgiveness of your sins through the infinite goodness of God, the Father of mercies, we give you an injunction that, in addition to the prescribed divine Office which you are bound to recite, you are to be under the obligation of repeating daily the seven Penitential Psalms, with the subjoined orisons and litanies,* kneeling before the Image of the most holy Crucifix, and that of the most blessed Virgin Mary. Et di piu che ogni seconda et And furthermore that it shall be played was specially commended by his Holiness; (‘‘S%* mandauit laudari uigilantiam pastoralem Ep. ;”) and on the seventh of July, in the same year, the Congregation of Car- dinals directed that the afflicted Monk should be consigned to the Superiors of his Order, who, under a penalty to be arbitrarily imposed, were bound to keep their prisoner watch- fully lest he should escape; (“qui illum sub poenis arbitrio &c. caute retineant, ac custo- diant, ne fugiat ;”) and if he should eventually recover, they were to give notice of the fact. Thus then we have derived from some of the secret papers of the Inquisition at Rome, providentially brought to light, a superabundant refutation of Cardinal Wiseman's fictions. There can be no mistake as to the fact attested by the Consultor Domenico, that De Soldati had been *'cooped up," and so badly treated that he had become Map: (**stia molto mal trattato, et P qsta ca sia anco diuenuto pazzo.") Lest it should ever be imagined that the punishment in question may have been merely that of ordinary close confinement, we have to remember that the terms employed admit not of any such misconception, but that they distinctly define the incarceration of a person built up, or in, within four walls: (*'fabricato trà quattro mura.) If it should be asked, How, under such awful circumstances, was his life sustained? the answer in- stantly presents itself, that there was an aperture in one of the walls, through which bread and water were supplied to him. Here too we are not left to the guidance of conjecture, for the record expressly states, that his food had been given to him ‘through a hole, with a small door to it, which was locked with a hey :’’ (** e per un’ buco, có un’ portello, che si serra à chiaue, si li dà da magnare.") This single narrative ought to be sufficient to overwhelm all attempts at palliation, and to elicit a confession of the truth from every one who is not determined to believe a lie. Wil the Dublin Reviewer, even though a Cardinal, and writing with the aid of ‘ authentic" information, as he has assured us, ever again maintain that the punishment of walling up was unknown and unpractised either in the capital or in the states of Italy? Itis expected, if there be not a candid and public reversal of his allegations, now a second time put to the test of documentary evidence, that at least we shall not have to encounter a repetition of the pretence, (p. 509.) that “the Inquisition had cel- lars, which were used for the store-rooms of the officers and servants of the house, but eriminals were never placed in them. In the cellars were niches £o hold casks of wine, and the Republicans were glad to have it believed that condemned criminals were walled up in them." * See them in the Rituale Romanum. RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 19 sesta feria debbi dire perpetuam'? lOffo de i morti, per l'anima de tuoi defonti, che sono nel Purga- torio. Et di piu che debbi ogni setti- mana confessare i tuoi peccati a qualche idoneo Sacerdote; et có quella maggior diuotione, che po- trai pigliare la santiss"" Commu- nione, come fanno li laici deuoti. . Reseruandosi perd a noi Ja miti- gatione, commutatione, et moder- atione di tutte le pene predette, o in tutto o in parte, come a noi, o alli Ill?! et R™ Card? Inquisitori, parera espediente. your duty always to say, upon every Monday and Friday, the Office of the dead, for the souls of your departed friends which are in Purgatory. And besides that you are re- quired to confess your sins every week to some suitable Priest; and with such great devotion that you shall be enabled to partake of the most holy Communion, as pious laymen do. Reserving to ourselves never- theless the power to alleviate, com- mute, and qualify all the foregoing penalties, either entirely or in part, according as it shall seem fit to us, or to the most illustrious and most reverend Cardinals the Inquisi- tors. of Gor. IL In TE Inquisitor deputatus ita pronuntiauimus. We, Charles, Cardinal Borromeo, the deputed Inquisitor, have thus pronounced. 20 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. There is not any evidence as to the means by which Fabiano effected his escape,* which took place however before his abjuration. In about five weeks less than a year from the date of his trial and doom, in default of the capture of his person, his effigy was burned. The follow- ing is the decree made for the occasion:— e Sütiaprofisco Contrafrém die Iouis 8. 9 ™* 1565. Thoma de fabianis de Mile- lecta et lata fuit pits v. d. to. ordinis frum conuentua- osultoribus 5gregatioii testi- liu s* francisci. bus. zx Sentence, in favour of the Fiscal, against Friar Tho- mas de Fabianis of Mileto, of the Order ofthe Con- ventual Friars of S. Francis, was read and passed on Thursday, the eighth day of November, 1565 ; the vene- rable Signors the Consultors of the Congregationf being present as witnesses. * Among the Italian refugees there was not one who was more deservedly distin- guished, or whose alienation from Romanism was more sincerely lamented by the friends of the popedom, than Celio Secundo Curione. The romantic detail of his providential li- beration (by the invention of an artificial limb which he contrived to place in the stocks,) from an inner prison at Turin, in which he was confined and heavily fettered, is supplied by himself in the Dialogue Probus, which is contained in his Pasquillus Eestaticus. A copy ofthis very rare, and of course strictly interdicted, book which I possess was the property of the Jesuits at Ghent in 1630, and it was also at one time deposited in the Museum of Cardinal Bellarmin in the College at Mechlin; but the Dialogue was sepa- rately published by Schelhorn, and may be read in his Amen. Hist. Eccles. et Liter. Tom. i. pp. 759-776. The substance of it is likewise represented in a lively manner in a panegyrical Oration upon Curio by Stupanus, which is in the fourteenth volume of the Amenitates Literaria. T Scil. of Cardinals for the Inquisition. RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 21 XP1 Nomine Invocato pro tribu- nali sedentes. et solum Deum pre oculis habentes. per hanc niam Sütiam quam de nforum Ill"? et E"" Düorum coinquisitorü con- silio et assensu ferimus in hijs scriptis sententiamus pronütiamus decernimus et declaramus in causa et causis que inter mag" virü dim Petrum Belum vtriusy Iuris doctoré offitij s" Roma Inquisi- tioi peufem fiscal& ex vna/ et quendam frém Thomam de fabia- nis de Mileto ordinis früm con- uentualiü s" francisci ex aduerso principalé partibus ex altera/ co- ra nobis pendefi de et super com- paritione personali in palatio eius- dem offitij coram R* pie fre magt'o Archangelo de blanchis déti nri offitij omissario gfiali per dictum frém Thomam facienda ad allegan- dum causas quare non debeat con- demnari se esse relapsum et here- ticum Impenitentem et fugitiuü qui aufugit et latitat ne abiuret publice in ecclia beate Marie supra Mineruá et in ptibus hereses quas ienuit juxta forma síitig desuper late. Sub excóis maioris late sfitie ac alijs censuris et penis a iure si- milibus inflictis/ Rebusg alijs in actis cause et causarü hmoi latius deductis partibus ex altera/ dictü frém Thoma incidisse et incurrisse in excóis maioris late síitie et alijs Sitting on the tribunal, after invocation of the name of Christ, and having God alone before our eyes, by this our sentence, which in these letters we pass with the advice and consent of the most il- lustrious and most reverend Lords our fellow-Inquisitors, — in the cause and causes which are pend- inginour presence, between, on the one side, the dignified Signor Peter Belo, Doctor of Laws, Fiscal Pro- curator of the Office of the holy Inquisition of Rome, and, on the other side, a certain Friar Thomas de Fabianis of Mileto, of the Order of the Conventual Friars of S. Francis, the opponent primarily concerned, respecting and relating to the matter of personal appear- ance to be presented (under the penalty of the greater Excommu- nication late sententie, and other similar censures and punishments imposed by the law,) by the said Friar Thomas in the palace of the same Office, before the reverend Father, Friar Archangelo Bian- chi,* Commissary General of our said Office, for the purpose of bringing forward the reasons for which he should not be condemned as a relapsed and as an impenitent heretic, and as a fugitive, since he has fled, and lies concealed, with a view to avoid a public and * This Dominican Monk was elevated to the Cardinalate, in the year 1570, by Pope Pius V., whose colleague he had been in inquisitorial Jabours, —'' in obeundo munere in- quirendi in Hzereticos,"—as the inscription upon his monument bears witness. (Ciaconit Vit. Pontiff. ct Cardd. Tom. iii. col. 1048, Rome, 1677.) 29 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. censuris et penis a iure et sacris canonibus inflictis hereticis relap- sis et fugitiuis ac impenitentibus / et propterea eundem maiori excói- catione innodatum ac hereticum impenitenté ac relapsum et fugi- tiuü si personaliter capi poterit Curie seculari tradendum seu re- linquendum fore et esse put relin- quimus et tradimus/ et si perso- nalf apprehendj non poterit eius statuá seu effigiem loco sue perso- ne iuxta laudabilem consuetudiné hactenus obseruatam comburen- dam fore et esse ac comburi man- damus / Et ita dicimus pnütiamus sfitiamus decernimus et declara- mus omni meliori modo. particular abjuration, (aecording to the form prescribed by the sen- tence heretofore passed,) in the church of the Blessed Mary above the Minerva, of the heresies which he has maintained; different mat- ters also in the proceedings in this cause and others of the same kind having been, on the criminal's be- half, more fully dilated on,—WE decide, pronounce, determine, and declare, that the said Friar Tho- mas has incurred, and become lia- ble to, the penalty of the greater Excommunication late sententic, and the other censures and pun- ishments imposed by the law and the sacred Canons upon here- tics who fall away, and escape, and are obdurate; and therefore that the same offender, being in- volved in the greater Excommu- nication, and being an impenitent and a relapsed heretic, and also a fugitive, if he can be apprehended, shall, and is to, be transferred or given up to the secular Court, as we do deliver and consign him; and, if his person cannot be seized, that, in compliance with a com- mendable custom hitherto ob- served, his statue or effigy shall, and is to, be burned, instead of his body ;* and we command that it * We have here an irresistible proof of the extravagance of Cardinal Wiseman’s state- ment, that capital punishment was ‘‘ never” inflicted at Rome upon those reputed as he- retics. The learned Benedictines of S. Maur incidentally speak of the burning of many individuals there, on account of their suspected opinions, almost at the precise period with which we are now concerned.—‘‘ Comme Pie V. avoit été grand Inquisiteur avant son pontificat, lorsqu'il fut Pape, il fit rechercher ceux qui avoient des sentimens suspects, en fit amener et brüler plusieurs à Rome." (L’ Art de vérifier les Dates, p. 400. A Paris, RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 23 shall be consumed with fire. And 80, in every preferable method, we say, pronounce, pass sentence, decree, and declare. Ita pnuntiaui 350 ae (or hs SY! Ap Inquisitor et Commiss" I, Lodovico, Cardinal Simoneta, Inquisitor and Commissary, have thus pronounced. 1750.) Cardinal Wiseman shrinks as far as possible from every allusion to such flames. Thus, when translating the words, '*l'Inquisizione oggi non torturava, non bruciava,” his version is, ** The Inquisition has not latterly used the torture," without the slightest re- cognition of ** bruciava.” (Dublin Review, June, 1850, p. 509.) THE END.